May 31st COVID-19 Update

Michael Dembrow

May 31, 2021

Dear Neighbors and Friends,

I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well, staying healthy, and looking out for your neighbors and friends in these difficult times.

As you’ll see in tonight’s newsletter, COVID metrics continue to go down, but you’ll also again see that to some extent it’s a function of holiday disruptions in reporting.  Many counties have not reported at all.  Similarly, vaccinations reported today are less than they have been for months. 

We should have a better picture of where we actually are on Wednesday.

Again, I hope you were able to enjoy a fine Memorial Day today, however you were able to celebrate it. When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, Memorial Day (we were still calling it Decoration Day in my family) always meant recognizing those we'd lost defending the country, but it also meant the beginning of summer.  It was a bit of a shock when we moved to Oregon and summer weather really didn't arrive for sure until after the Fourth of July.  Things have really changed. 

The weather has indeed been wonderful here in the Northwest, but along with it we’re also looking at increasing danger levels of drought and wildfire.  Many people in Southern Oregon are already facing wildfire evacuation warnings and even orders on this last weekend of May, and that’s extremely troubling.

Please stay safe and let me know if you have any questions about information in today’s  newsletter.

 

TODAY’S CORONAVIRUS AND CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE

  • New COVID Cases: OHA reports 220 new COVID cases today.  The cumulative number of cases in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic is 201,471.
  • Variant COVID Cases: OHA released updated variant case counts on Wednesday: 983 (up from 716) cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 142 cases (up from 78) of the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, and 80 (up from 56) cases of the B.1.351 (South African) variant.  In addition, we are now seeing 257 (up from 237) cases of the B.1.427 variant, and 688 (up from 631) of the B.1.429 variant.  OHA is now producing a Variant Dashboard providing current variant case numbers for the state as a whole and for various parts of the state.
  • Positive Test Results: OHA reported 310 positive tests today. The cumulative total of positive test results since the beginning of the pandemic is now 292,222.
  • Total Tests: OHA reported an additional 7,146 tests today. Our cumulative total of reported tests is now 5,1441,035.
  • Positivity Rate: The test positivity ratio for Oregon today is 4.3%.
  • Hospitalization Information: OHA only reports on the first two bulleted items over the weekend and on holidays.  I’ll catch you up on changes in the remaining metrics on Tuesday.
    • Patients Currently with Confirmed COVID-19: 249 (1 fewer than yesterday)
    • ICU Patients Confirmed w COVID-19: 61 (1 more than yesterday).
    • Available ICU Beds: 149 (18 more than yesterday)
    • Other Available Beds: 522 (68 more than yesterday).
    • Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently on Ventilators: 34 (6 fewer than yesterday).
    • Available Ventilators: 774 (2 fewer than yesterday).
  • Deaths: I’m sorry to report 3 additional COVID deaths today.  The total number of COVID deaths in Oregon is now 2,671.
  • Vaccinations:
    • As of the end of yesterday, here are the latest numbers:
      • New Immunizations Reported Today: 10,198
        • 3,493 were conducted and reported yesterday
        • 6,255 were conducted earlier, but the reports were received yesterday (there can potentially be a three-day window for reporting)
        • The 7-day running average is now 24,730 doses per day.
  • Total First and Second Doses Administered So Far: 3,957,384
    • 2,210,830 Pfizer doses
    • 1,601,553 Moderna doses
    • 143,156 Johnson & Johnson doses
  • Total Oregonians vaccinated so far: 2,240,922
    • 1,850,566 now fully vaccinated with two doses
  • To date, 5,101,436 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. (The total for last week was 355,201.)
    • 77.6% of these doses have been administered so far. The national average is now 80.5%.
    • 54.8% of Oregonians have received at least one dose (61.8% of those 16 and older, 64.9% of those 18+, which is the CDC standard***).
    • 45.1% of Oregonians are now fully vaccinated (51.7% of those 16 and older***).
      • ***OHA doesn’t update the numbers for 16+ or 18+ over the weekend or on holidays.
  • Want to see how close each county is to hitting the 65% target for moving to lower risk? Here's an interactive map showing percentages for total population and for eligible population (residents age 16+).  It shows how close each county is to hitting the 65% target.
  • Additional Brief Updates:
    • The Washington Post reports on a promising new venue for vaccinations:  barber shops.
    • The Associated Press refutes another bogus anti-vaccine claim: that the vaccine spawns new COVID variants. Just because it’s become prevalent on social media doesn’t mean it’s true.  (Ironically, between the time that I wrote this and before sending out this newsletter, I received an email touting this bogus theory.
    • Here’s a fascinating story of how specially trained dogs are being used to  sniff out the presence of coronavirus in people.Their success rate is apparently better than that of the antigen rapid test.
    • The Associate Press has a story about mobile vaccination units that are going out into small towns and neighborhoods around the country, bringing the vaccine to small groups of people.
    • With nearly all COVID deaths now being among those who were not vaccinated, their survivors have to cope with the deaths of their loved ones while surrounded by the joy of reopening. They feel similar to those whose loved ones are killed in war just as a cease-fire is about to be declared.  They wonder if they should have pressed their friend or loved one harder to get vaccinated. Here's the story.

 

The Week Ahead in Salem

As we head into June, we also head into the final month of this unusual 2021 session.  Policy committees in both chambers finished their work last week.  Any bills that didn’t make it out of committee are doomed for this session. (But remember, the next session is just 8 months away!)

Bills that made it out of their second-chamber committee and are headed to the floor will in nearly all cases pass and head to the Governor (bills generally don’t leave a committee until there is confidence that the votes are there to pass on the floor), though of course, as we saw with the Motorcycle Lane Filtering bill last week, the Governor’s signature isn’t always a sure thing.

Most of the action for the rest of the session will be in Ways and Means.  As the agency budgets are being finalized this week, we’ll finally start to see policy bills that are in Ways and Means (because they involve programs that cost money) getting hearings in the various subcommittees.  In order to get through the big backlog of policy bills, the subcommittees will start meeting four days a week (instead of their usual twice a week).  If a policy bill has been referred to a subcommittee, that means it has likely received the “green light” from the presiding officers and Ways and Means co-chairs to be funded.

Complicating the Ways and Means process this year is the substantial amount of American Rescue Plan funding that the state has received for one-time investments.  As I’ve written before, individual legislators have been able to designate worthwhile projects in their districts for some of the funds.  The remainder will be allocated through the Ways and Means process, and that’s taking a lot of attention and prioritization.  Needless to say, we’re hearing from many advocacy groups and coalitions with recommendations on how to spend the money in a way that would fund their priorities.

I myself have signed on to a few of these advocacy letters.  One involved investments needed to transfer 82nd Avenue from state control to city control.  Here's another one that came from the Legislature’s Environmental Caucus, a group of legislators coordinating work on environmental issues. As you’ll see, our recommendation is that the funds be used largely to help address one of the biggest challenge areas we face: water and wastewater. Investing in this infrastructure will have public health and economic benefits for people all over the state.

An open question at this point is whether or not a computer will be reading bills in their entirety aloud on the Senate floor tomorrow.  On Friday we saw how quickly we can get through our business when that archaic requirement is waived, as it used to be routinely.  Anticipating that the Republicans will insist that the requirement must continue, the Senate will begin scheduling a second floor session each day starting on Wednesday, following the 10:30-1:00 slot with a 3:00-5:00 pm session.  The Ways and Means subcommittees will meet before 10:00 and between 1:00 and 3:00.

 

Where Are Today’s  Cases?

If we put together the positive test results and new “presumptive cases” reported today, the overall number of new cases reported is 220. Here is today’s breakdown by county:

 

Clackamas (35)

Clatsop (1)

Columbia (3)

Coos (1)

Curry (1)

Deschutes (17)

Douglas (15)

Jackson (17)

Josephine (6)

Klamath (6)

Lane (21)

Lincoln (3)

Linn (9)

Marion (31)

Morrow (2)

Multnomah (39)

Tillamook (1)

Union (1)

Wasco (4)

Yamhill (2)

 

And the Deaths:

Oregon’s 2,669th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man from Douglas County who tested positive on May 27 and died on May 29 at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.

Oregon’s 2,670th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive on May 13 and died on May 29 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

Oregon’s 2,671st COVID-19 death is a 68-year-old man from Linn County who tested positive on May 17 and died on May 30 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

 

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Want to See Past Newsletters?

If there was COVID-related information in a past newsletter that you want to go back to, but find you’ve deleted it, you can always go to my legislative website (senatordembrow.com), click on “News and Information,” and you’ll find them all there.  Also, if someone forwarded you this newsletter and you’d like to get it directly, you can sign up for it there.

 

AND FINALLY,

Here again are some resources that you will find useful

If the above links are not providing you with answers to your questions or directing you to the help that you need, please consider me and my office to be a resource.  We’ll do our best to assist you or steer you in the right direction.

 

Best,

dembrow signature

Senator Michael Dembrow
District 23


email: Sen.MichaelDembrow@oregonlegislature.gov
web: www.senatordembrow.com
phone: 503-281-0608
mail: 900 Court St NE, S-407, Salem, OR, 97301